Category: Language learning

Learning Russian and Manx

By Simon

I’ve been learning Russian with Rosetta Stone for just over six months now and don’t feel like I’m making much progress. The Rosetta Stone Russian course is a fairly effective way of learning vocabulary and some sentence patterns, but not particularly useful if you want to learn how to converse in Russian. So I’m considering trying a different course. Any suggestions? As far as I can tell, the Teach Yourself Russian courses seem to be pretty good.

Why am I learning Russian? Well, a knowledge of that language would be quite useful to me when editing websites in Russian, and I am quite interested in Russian literature. I’ve read and enjoyed some Russian novels and short stories in English and French translation, and would quite like to be able to read them and others in the original – it will be quite a while before I can do that though, I think.

Ec y traa cheddin, ta mee gynsaghey Gaelg myrgeddin. Shegin dou jannoo ymmyd mennick jeh fockleyr, agh ta fys ennagh aym er y Ghaelg nish. Ta mee goaill gynsaghey çhengaghyn, ny çhengaghyn Celtiagh er lheh, as ta treisht orrym bee Gaelg flaaoil aym dy leah.

At the same time, I’ve also been learning Manx, and can now understand, speak, read and write it, at least to some extent, with frequent reference to a dictionary. The Manx courses I’ve been using are more focused on everyday language, and I’m more motivated to learn Manx.

Competitive language learning

By Simon

When learning a language, it’s natural to compare your own progress and abilities with that of others. There’ll usually be other learners who know more than you, at least about some aspects of a language, or who speak and/or write with more fluency and confidence than you. You might also meet people who have been studying a language for a shorter time than you but who have achieved a higher level. This can be discouraging and frustrating, however we learn things at different rates, so such comparisons are not particularly helpful, unless you’re doing some research into second language acquisition (SLA).

Whenever I meet someone who is studying or has studied any of the foreign languages I know, I usually compare their level with my own. If they have a lower level, I feel that I’m doing ok, but if they have a higher level, I feel a bit jealous and resolve to study more. I also wonder whether I’ll ever achieve their level of fluency.

If you’re studying with someone else, some degree of competition can be a good thing, as you can encourage one another to keep going and to achieve more. Too much pressure is probably doesn’t help though.